This is the second week of Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Commission: desks are still being arranged, computers connected, and new spokespeople have yet to be briefed. In fact one of this week’s big events isn’t happening: an extra meeting of the Eurogroup conclave of finance ministers that had been planned for Friday is shelved.

Over the jump, you’ll find five things for your agenda this week. Read More »

The first week under the new European Commission, led by Jean-Claude Juncker, is set to be a busy one. The EU executive will deliver the European Union’s much anticipated economic forecasts, while later in the week, the bloc’s finance ministers meet to discuss tax and budgets. Here are five things to watch in the week ahead: Read More »

On Monday, Daniele Nouy, the head of the Single Supervisory Mechanism, the eurozone’s new banking supervisor, will be talking to lawmakers on the European Parliament’s economic and monetary affairs committee. Ms. Nouy will likely be grilled on the results of the stress tests on the bloc’s banks, and on the setting up of the SSM, which sits under the auspices of the ECB. For a refresher on the stress tests, check out our awesome graphic that shows key results for individual banks.

For the moment, Banking Union looks like something that only exists on paper. Companies and households across the currency area are still very much judged by nationality rather than the content of their credit quality: Read More »

Brussels watchers should brace themselves for a busy week. D-Day for the European Union’s banks will be upon us, but not before the leaders of the bloc’s 28 members meet to talk about climate change, external affairs and, in usual fashion, the economy. Here are five things to watch in the week ahead:

1. On Sunday Oct. 26, results of the EU’s much anticipated stress test will be published, showing how the investments of the bloc’s largest lenders would fare under a swath of economic and financial shocks. To pass, banks have to maintain a buffer of common Tier 1 capital equivalent to at least 5.5% of risk-weighted assets. Lenders that flunk the stress tests will have nine months to find the missing capital after the results are announced.

The nominee to become the European Union’s next financial-services czar presented his grand vision for the bloc over the next five years, with the U.K. remaining in the EU, and pledged to work hard to make it a reality, in a bid to woo European lawmakers as he was brought back in for a another round of grilling.

Brussels-watchers should brace themselves for an interesting week in the European Union. Their main attention will be on the European Parliament, where lawmakers will spend the next few days grilling the fresh crop of nominees to head the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm. In case you need to refresh your memory on who these new faces are – and what they look like - check out our awesome graphic. (For more details on their personal finances you can read here.)

Most hearings should go smoothly, letting would-be commissioners get out unscathed. Some of the more controversial nominees, however, will be in for a rough ride, as MEPs prepare to question their suitability to handle their assigned portfolios, or even the job altogether. Expect scorn, boos and jeers (and maybe even tears?) One or two hopefuls will probably not survive the process. Read More »

A busy week ahead for those following the European Union as Mario Draghi visits Brussels and European commissioners head to New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Meanwhile in Berlin, Russia and Ukraine will hold another round of talks to settle their ongoing gas dispute. Here are five things to watch… Read More »

First, there is the sheer scale of the losses reported on Thursday—at €3.6 billion, these were far above any analyst’s worst case forecast.

Second, there is the manner in which the losses were racked up: extraordinarily, the bank’s exposure to its troubled parent companies doubled during the second quarter, rising by €120 million in June alone, apparently without approvals from relevant BES committees; the bank also disclosed the existence of four off-balance sheet vehicles used to sell parent company bonds to BES retail customers apparently without the knowledge of the bank’s external directors. Read More »

Belgian banking and insurance company KBC Group NV set out a broad new corporate strategy Tuesday: On top of plans to repay its state-aid earlier than foreseen, preserve its capital buffers and other serious banking matters, KBC said it will launch a new brand specifically for Brussels.

It’s an interesting point for Belgium-watchers, because Brussels — a federal region in its own right, along with Flanders and Wallonia — hasn’t been the focus of a marketing push. Daniel Falque, chief executive of KBC’s Belgium business unit, said the capital represents “untapped potential for KBC,” with its cosmopolitan mix of people and languages including French, Flemish, English and Arabic. Read More »

About Real Time Brussels

The Wall Street Journal’s Brussels blog is produced by the Brussels bureau of The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswires. The bureau has been headed since 2009 by Stephen Fidler, who was previously a correspondent and editor for the Financial Times and Reuters. Also posting regularly: Matthew Dalton, Viktoria Dendrinou, Tom Fairless, Naftali Bendavid, Laurence Norman, Gabriele Steinhauser and Valentina Pop.